2019 Wrap-up

     I love numbers and statistics so making spreadsheets and keeping them updated is such a joy 😁. I do my best to keep them 100% accurate but there may be a few mistakes. Here's the breakdown of our past year.

Miles traveled: 6,954 (This only includes towing miles from one destination to another)

National Parks and Monuments visited: 2 (This number is incredibly low compared to other years but we did more non-popular things like visiting an alligator farm, the Jelly Belly Factory, and other cool places.)

State Parks visited: 3

Miles hiked: 42

Nights with family or friends: 257

Nights at an RV park: 1

Nights boondocking (NO hook-ups): 31

Number of states we slept in: 20

Average cost per night: $3.75 (Note: this does NOT include the hours Eldon worked this summer in exchange for our site. It's hardly fair to count it though, since he enjoyed it so much. )

Nursing contracts: 3 (Started the year with a month left in Page, AZ,6 months in Baker, MT, and finished the year in Wichita Falls, TX)

Our 2019 basic route. Many places were left out because Google limited me but you get the general idea.

     Once again, we feel so blest for traveling mercies and safety. We've seen beautiful country and spent time with amazing people - what a gift!

     While it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite place, here's what each member of our family named as a highlight for this year.

Eldon: He wouldn't give me a solid answer but very possibly, making hay in Montana

Monica: Growing a garden again

Makayla : The Gulf of Mexico

Michael: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Emily: Playing with the horses at the Standard's

Ethan: The Medora Musical

     And now, a random photo from each month. 

January. There are no words to describe the desert sunsets.

February. Gulf of Mexico at Holly Beach, LA

March. The farm Eldon grew up on.

April. Bum calves in Montana.

May. A week of relaxation in Missouri with the Beachy family.

June. Getting up close and personal with the bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

July. Acres and acres of hay to make.

August. Small town fairs are the best.

September. Our garden.

October. Helping Grandma Beachy make applesauce.

November. Sunset over Lake Arrowhead, TX.

December. Christmas lights in Wichita Falls, TX.

     We're excited to see what God has for us in 2020. Our plan is to head to Boynton Beach, FL in a few weeks where Eldon will be working for a friend doing RV repairs for a couple months. We've got a contract in Baker, MT from mid April to September but otherwise, our plans are jello.

Tentative 2020 route.

Thank-you for being our friends!

Emily's birthday

     Most of these photos have to do with Emily's birthday in one way or another so we'll just go with that for a title (always the hardest part of the blogpost!). She turned 7 on the 6th of November and reminded us daily for at least a month before. Our children always look forward to their birthday date with Eldon. Emily took it up a notch and even chose what clothes Eldon should wear 😂.

She chose Applebee's, because she wanted wings.

     The campground has 6-7 full-timers here right now but other then that it's fairly empty until Friday night hits. We were delighted to have the Tressel family (we met at the Balloon Fiesta 2018 and spent a lot of time together earlier this year) spend nearly a month here while working out the technicalities of a new job and move to PA. The children have ridden miles and miles on their bikes around our loop! It's been such a blessing to have them here.

Playing circus.

Emily's birthday party

She wanted a fruit platter so......

Presents are so exciting!

In addition to this, she got money from both grandma's and a Bible case from us. Also, a beautiful angel figurine and toys for our cat from friends in Montana.

Putting that cupcake maker to good use!

She did such a good job!

Sunday afternoon walk.

Time for a break.

Ethan has suddenly started playing doll again - so cute!

Birthday flowers from daddy-after the pink roses died.

Mrs. Tressel spent 30 minutes curling her hair one day, just for fun. It was so cute but only lasted a little while.

A swinging bridge in town. Slightly scary!

We were fascinated by these Hedge Apples.

Imagine that falling on your head!

The Wichita Falls of Wichita Falls, TX.

A common scene these days. We're working hard to finish 3rd and 5th grade by New Year's so we can swap out Teacher's Guides from our storage shed before we move to the next place.

We're on a coloring kick these days. I love it!

     We recently learned about dental colleges and their wonderful rates if you are willing to let a student work on you. Makayla and I went for a cleaning and it was so worth it! $40 for both of us and they did a fabulous job. They took their time but not once did I want to punch them in the face for jabbing me with a metal tool. Makayla was more excited than I expected her to be when we met up in the waiting room afterwards. The dentist had asked her what book she was reading then proceeded to take it and find the name Richard Cox. "That's my tenth great-grandpa that was the tutor of Elizabeth I." She was pretty happy about that encounter!

The book!

     Our weather has been gorgeous - most days in the 60's. But there was that one week that it dipped below freezing for 5 nights and stayed that low for 24 hours. All y'all from Montana are laughing right now but I don't care :). All that to say, we love the library here (except that they limit us to 15 books only) and can spend hours there. I even broke my no computer rule one day.

Emily was fascinated with paintshop.

     A huge advantage of neighbors is the ability to swap childcare. Eldon and I have LOVED the chance to go out once a week with no guilt at all that we are infringing on the babysitter. I'm more than happy to take my turn because our children really do entertain themselves (mostly). Most of the time we run all over town getting groceries and other necessary errands. We've had time to go on long walks and even go to a coffee house. It's so fun again!

Hook & Ladder Coffee is in a fire station that was established in 1887.

Last but not least, Eldon's birthday cake!

Wichita Falls, TX

     Eldon started a job in Wichita Falls October 14. Heading to a city over with over 100,000 people is certainly not on our fun list but all signs pointed this way so here we are! The redeeming point is a state park 20 minutes from the city. Texas State Parks are typically gorgeous and staffed with very friendly Rangers. Lake Arrowhead has not disappointed!

Our first campsite.

      With lots of nice biking trails/roads here, a bigger bike for Ethan was at the top of our list. Eldon found one at Sport's Academy with a broken chain guard and the manager knocked $30 off for us! His old bike still had some life in it so we gifted it to another family with 4 little boys that camped next to us one weekend.

Thumbs up!

Lake sunsets are so pretty.

     So, in Montana we got this kitten with full intentions of it not traveling with us and certainly not being a house cat but..........meet Cupid, our part-time house cat. He loves the outdoors and spends any nice day outside.

Curled up by the campfire.

     The fishing is rumored to be really good here so we've tried several times but no luck. We did get to watch someone pull in a Gar that was 2-3 feet long so that was fun!

Ethan was worried about sharks jumping up and getting him.

Learning patience :)

One of the trails here. We've been disappointed by the lack of wildlife though.

Cupid is not supposed to be on the couch but.....who can resist this?!

     Many state parks have a 14 day limit then require you to be out of the park for 24 hours. Much to our delight, we can stay as long as we want here, but have to change sites every 14 days. Today we moved one site over and even left our slides out 😁. It was so easy to just carry our camp chairs, outdoor carpet, grill, and bikes over instead of loading it all up!

That handy-dandy thing on the back is my washline that Eldon rigged up for me.

Hiking near the dam.

Michael and Emily enjoying the fall weather.

A wild plum tree with an intriguing trunk.

Arrowhead Lake. I'd love to see it when all the Lily Pads are blooming.

     The next picture is a beautiful thing that Eldon and I have been waiting on for a long time. For 10 years one or both of us has had to carry a child and/or backpack whenever we go hiking or walking. Since Ethan is 4, we don't even bring a carrier with us. And....the children carry ALL the backpacks with water and snacks. Lest you think we're cruel, we're not. If it's a long hike, the 3 oldest all take one with 2 water bottles and a snack. If it's a short hike, we just take one and they take turns. I guess there are some perks to getting old!

The exchange of the backpack! 

     The next posts will be about some of the other fun things we've enjoyed doing since we're here!